13.08.2011

Google+ games: privacy and sharing information about played games

Today we’re starting to gradually roll out games in Google+. We look forward to making them fully available to everyone in Google+ soon.

and this evening there is a new icon:

and clicking on this four connected points showed the following:

Ok. Let's go: I clicked the blue "play" button and got:

I followed the "Learn more" link:

Who can see that you're playing games

Games on Google+ are social. Information such as the games you play and your accomplishments within the game (such as high scores and levels) may be visible to other Google+ users.

Google+ won’t publish your gameplay information to the stream without your consent. You get to choose when to share updates from games (and the people you share with). So how do people see that you've played a particular game?

In “Featured Games”

If you’re looking at the "Featured games" area, you might see the number of people in your circles who have recently played a game, along with a photo of a recent player. Click on played recently to bring up a box that shows who those people are.

Within Games

When you play a game, you’re consenting to share information such as your name and profile picture with the game developer. This lets developers design better social games.

Additionally, a game may involve multiple players in a single match (such as a poker table). In these situations, the other players in the room can see and interact with each other during gameplay.

Some games allow you to partner up with (or work against) another player, such as a neighbor, ally, or an enemy/rival. These games use your circles to suggest people to interact with. You could show up as a suggestion to another player to become an ally or to challenge.